Machine-implemented method for establishing a playback interface, and computer-readable recording medium for implementing the same

ABSTRACT

A machine-implemented method for establishing a playback interface for a target disc when storing contents of a plurality of original discs into the target disc includes: (A) analyzing each of the original discs for relevant disc information, and recording the disc information of the original discs in a disc information list; (B) analyzing each sequence of each of the original discs for relevant sequence information, and recording the sequence information of the original discs in a playback sequence list; and (C) establishing a playback interface for the target disc according to the disc information list and the playback sequence list.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/013,189 (Now U.S. Pat. No. 8,503,858), filed Jan. 11, 2008, which claims the benefit of Taiwanese Patent Application Serial No. 096130723, filed Aug. 20, 2007, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a method and a computer-readable recording medium for establishing a playback interface for a disc, more particularly to a machine-implemented method and a computer-readable recording medium for establishing a playback interface for a target disc when storing contents of a plurality of original discs into the target disc.

2. Description of the Related Art

With the developments of single-sided double-layer (SS-DL), double-sided double-layer (DS-DL) and BluRay disc recording techniques, storage capacities of discs have increased dramatically. At present, there are two newly-developed standards for digital versatile discs (DVD), namely High Definition DVD (HD-DVD) and BluRay DVD (BD). As compared to a conventional DVD disc with a storage capacity of 4.7 G, the High Definition DVD has a storage capacity of 30 G, whereas the BluRay DVD has a storage capacity of 50 G. Therefore, when it is demanded to store contents of a plurality of small-capacity discs into one large-capacity target disc, an approach to establishing a playback interface for the target disc is of main concern.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a method and a computer-readable recording medium for establishing a playback interface for a large-capacity target disc when storing contents of a plurality of original discs into the target disc.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a machine-implemented method for establishing a playback interface for a target disc when storing contents of a plurality of original discs into the target disc. The machine-implemented method includes:

-   -   (A) analyzing each of the original discs for relevant disc         information, and recording the disc information of the original         discs in a disc information list;     -   (B) analyzing each sequence of each of the original discs for         relevant sequence information, and recording the sequence         information of the original discs in a playback sequence list;         and     -   (C) establishing a playback interface for the target disc         according to the disc information list and the playback sequence         list.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium that includes program instructions for causing a computing apparatus to execute consecutive steps of the machine-implemented method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart, illustrating the first preferred embodiment of a machine-implemented method for establishing a playback interface for a target disc when storing contents of a plurality of original discs into the target disc according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart, illustrating sub-steps of step 12 according to the first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart, illustrating sub-steps of step 13 according to the first preferred embodiment when the target disc is a menu-based target disc;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram, illustrating an exemplary three-layered hierarchical playback menu according to the first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart, illustrating sub-steps of step 13 according to the first preferred embodiment when the target disc is a script-based target disc;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary script according to the first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart, illustrating sub-steps of step 13 according to the second preferred embodiment of this invention when the target disc is a menu-based target disc; and

FIG. 8 is a flow chart, illustrating sub-steps of step 13 according to the second preferred embodiment when the target disc is a script-based target disc.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Before the present invention is described in greater detail, it should be noted that like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the disclosure.

Illustrated in FIG. 1 is the first preferred embodiment of a machine-implemented method for establishing a playback interface for a target disc when storing contents of a plurality of original discs into the target disc according to the present invention. There is no limitation on the formats of the original discs, i.e., the original discs can include a Video Compact Disc (VCD), a Super VCD, a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), a High Definition DVD (HD-DVD), and a BluRay DVD (BD), etc. The target disc can be one of a High Definition DVD and a BluRay DVD. It should be noted herein that High Definition DVD can be categorized into two types, i.e., the menu-based HD DVD-video and the script-based iHD. BluRay DVD can also be categorized into two types, i.e, the menu-based BluRay DVD movie, and the script-based BluRay DVD Java (BD-J).

As shown in FIG. 1, the machine-implemented method according to the first preferred embodiment includes the followings steps:

In step 11, contents of each of the original discs are loaded and stored in a hard drive buffer area.

In step 12, each of the original discs (i.e., the contents stored in the hard drive buffer area) is analyzed, and the analysis results are recorded in three lists.

Finally, in step 13, the playback interface for the target disc is established according to these three lists.

With further reference to FIG. 2, step 12 includes the following sub-steps:

In step 121, each of the original discs is analyzed for relevant disc information, and the disc information of the original discs is recorded in a disc information list, which is a first one of the aforementioned three lists. The disc information of each of the original discs may include a disc title, a file name of each data file included in the original disc, a disc playback duration of the original disc, etc.

Shown in the following Table 1 is an exemplary disc information list.

TABLE 1 Disc Information List File Name of Data Files Stored in Hard Disc Playback Original Disc Disc Title Drive Buffer Area Duration Disc 1 New York Trip disc01.001, 120 minutes disc01.002, disc01.003 Disc 2 Paris Trip disc02.001, 100 minutes disc02.002

In step 122, each sequence of each of the original discs is analyzed for relevant sequence information, and the sequence information of the original discs is recorded in a playback sequence list, which is a second one of the aforementioned three lists. The sequence information of each sequence of each of the original discs may include a sequence number of the sequence, a chapter number of each chapter included in the sequence, etc.

Shown in the following Table 2 is an exemplary playback sequence list, where “S1-3” denotes a 3^(rd) sequence in the 1^(st) original disc, i.e., Disc 1, and “S2-1” denotes a 1^(st) sequence in the 2^(nd) original disc, i.e., Disc 2. In addition, “ch1-3-2” denotes a 2^(nd) chapter in the 3^(rd) sequence of the 1^(st) original disc. The rest may be deducted by analogy.

TABLE 2 Playback Sequence List Chapter No. of Each Chapter Included in the Sequence No. Sequence S1-1 ch1-1-1, ch1-1-2, ch-1-3 S1-2 ch1-2-1, ch1-2-2 S1-3 ch1-3-1, ch1-3-2 S2-1 ch2-1-1, ch2-1-2 S2-2 ch2-2-1, ch2-2-2

In step 123, each chapter of each sequence of each of the original discs is analyzed for relevant chapter information, and the chapter information of the original discs is recorded in a chapter information list, which is a third one of the aforementioned three lists. The chapter information of each chapter of each sequence of each of the original discs may include a file name of each corresponding data file, a start time, an end time, a chapter playback duration, etc. An exemplary chapter information list is shown in Table 3 below.

TABLE 3 Chapter Information List Chapter Playback Chapter No. Data File Name Start Time End Time Duration ch1-1-1 disc01.001 00:10:00 00:30:00 20 minutes ch1-1-2 disc01.001 00:30:00 01:10:00 40 minutes ch1-1-3 disc01.002 00:00:00 00:00:10 10 seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ch2-2-2 disc02.001 00:00:00 00:00:20 20 seconds

In this embodiment, the playback interface for the target disc is established according to the disc information list, the playback sequence list, and the chapter information list in step 13.

With reference to FIG. 3, when the target disc is a menu-based target disc, such as a HD DVD-Video or a BluRay DVD movie, the playback interface includes a hierarchical playback menu. In this embodiment, the hierarchical playback menu is three-layered, and step 13 includes the following sub-steps:

In step 131, it is first determined whether combined size of the contents of the original discs exceeds storage capacity of the target disc with reference to the disc playback durations of the original discs recorded in the disc information list. When the result reveals that the combined size of the contents of the original discs is within the storage capacity of the target disc, a first layer submenu of the hierarchical playback menu is established according to the disc information list. In this embodiment, the first layer submenu includes first options that are respectively named after the disc titles, but is not limited thereto in other embodiments of the present invention. In the exemplary hierarchical playback menu shown in FIG. 4, the first layer submenu includes two options that are respectively named “New York Trip” and “Paris Trip”.

In step 132, a second layer submenu of the hierarchical playback menu is established according to the playback sequence list. In this embodiment, the second layer submenu includes second options that are respectively named after sequence numbers of the sequences of the original discs, but is not limited thereto in other embodiments of the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the hierarchical playback menu includes two of the second layer submenus. The first one of the second layer submenus includes three options, namely “S1-1”, “S1-2” and “S1-3”, while the second one of the second layer submenus includes two options, namely “S2-1” and “S2-2”.

In step 133, a third layer submenu of the hierarchical playback menu is established according to the chapter information list. In this embodiment, the third layer submenu includes third options that are respectively named after chapter numbers of chapters included in the sequences of the original discs, but is not limited thereto in other embodiments of the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the hierarchical playback menu includes five of the third layer submenus. A first one of the third layer submenus includes three options, namely “ch1-1-1”, “ch1-1-2” and “ch1-1-3”, a second one of the third layer submenus includes two options, namely “ch1-2-1” and “ch1-2-2”, a third one of the third layer submenus includes two options, namely “ch1-3-1” and “ch1-3-2”, a fourth one of the third layer submenus includes two options, namely “ch2-1-1” and “ch2-1-2”, while a fifth one of the third layer submenus includes two options, namely “ch2-2-1” and “ch2-2-2”.

In step 134, an activation command is set for a first option of the first layer submenu to correspond to a respective second layer submenu. In this embodiment, an activation command is set for each of the first options of the first layer submenu to correspond to a respective one of the second layer submenus. In the exemplary hierarchical playback menu shown in FIG. 4, an activation command is set for the first option named “New York Trip” to correspond to the first one of the second layer submenus, and an activation command is set for the first option named “Paris Trip” to correspond to the second one of the second layer submenus.

In step 135, an activation command is set for a second option of the second layer submenu to correspond to a respective third layer submenu. In this embodiment, an activation command is set for each second option of each of the second layer submenus to correspond to a respective one of the third layer submenus. In the exemplary hierarchical playback menu shown in FIG. 4, activation commands are respectively set for the second options of the first one of the second layer submenus to correspond to the first to third ones of the third layer submenus, while activation commands are respectively set for the second options of the second one of the second layer submenus to correspond to the fourth and fifth ones of the third layer submenus.

In step 136, an activation command is set for a third option of the third layer submenu to correspond to a respective chapter of a respective sequence of a respective one of the original discs. In this embodiment, an activation command is set for each of the third options of each of the third layer submenus to correspond to a respective chapter of a respective one of the sequences of a respective one of the original discs. In the exemplary hierarchical playback menu shown in FIG. 4, activation commands are respectively set for the third options of the first one of the third layer submenus to correspond to the 1^(st), 2^(nd) and 3^(rd) chapters of the 1^(st) sequence of the 1 ^(st) original disc. Activation commands are respectively set for the third options of the second one of the third layer submenus to correspond to the 1^(st) and 2^(nd) chapters of the 2^(nd) sequence of the 1^(st) original disc. Activation commands are respectively set for the third options of the third one of the third layer submenus to correspond to the 1^(st) and 2^(nd) chapters of the 3^(rd) sequence of the 1^(st) original disc. Activation commands are respectively set for the third options of the fourth one of the third layer submenus to correspond to the 1^(st) and 2^(nd) chapters of the 1^(st) sequence of the 2^(nd) original disc. Activation commands are respectively set for the third options of the fifth one of the third layer submenus to correspond to the 1^(st) and 2^(nd) chapters of the 2^(nd) sequence of the 2^(nd) original disc.

In step 137, the chapter contents of the original discs and the playback menu are encoded.

In step 138, the encoded data is outputted to the target disc.

With reference to FIG. 5, when the target disc is a script-based target disc, such as an iHD or a BluRay DVD Java, the playback interface includes a script-structure playback interface, and step 13 includes the following sub-steps:

In step 141, a script is established according to the disc information list, the playback sequence list and the chapter information list. An exemplary script is illustrated in FIG. 6.

In step 142, a disc-information processing program is added into the script. The disc-information processing program is triggerable to jump to a playback sequence frontpage that corresponds to a selected one of the original discs (e.g., “New York Trip” and “Paris Trip”). The playback sequence frontpage may include sequence options, such as S1-1, S1-2 and S1-3 for “New York Trip”, and S2-1 and S2-2 for “Paris Trip”.

In step 143, a playback-sequence processing program is added into the script. The playback-sequence processing program is triggerable to jump to a chapter information frontpage that corresponds to a selected sequence (e.g., S1-1, S1-2, S1-3, S2-1 and S2-2) of a selected one of the original discs. The chapter information frontpage may include chapter options, such as ch1-1-1, ch1-1-2 and ch1-1-3 for the sequence “S1-1”, ch1-2-1 and ch1-2-2 for the sequence “S1-2”, etc.

In step 144, a chapter processing program is added into the script. The chapter processing program is triggerable to jump to a selected chapter (e.g., ch1-1-1, ch1-1-2, ch1-1-3, ch1-2-1, etc.) of a selected sequence of a selected one of the original discs.

In step 145, the chapter contents of the original discs and the script are encoded.

In step 146, the encoded data is outputted to the target disc.

With reference to FIG. 2, the second preferred embodiment differs from the first preferred embodiment in that sub-step 123 is omitted, i.e., there is no chapter information list. In other words, the analysis results are stored in the disc information list and the playback sequence list only. Therefore, in step 13 (refer to FIG. 1), the playback interface for the target disc is established according to the disc information list and the playback sequence list.

Consequently, when the target disc is menu-based, the hierarchical playback menu is two-layered. In particular, with reference to FIG. 7, sub-steps 133 and 136 of the first preferred embodiment (refer to FIG. 3) are omitted in the second preferred embodiment. Further, in sub-step 135′ of the second preferred embodiment, instead of setting an activation command for a second option of the second layer submenu to correspond to a respective third layer submenu, an activation command is set for a second option of the second layer submenu to correspond to a respective sequence of a respective one of the original discs. In addition, in sub-step 137′ of the second preferred embodiment, the sequence contents, instead of the chapter contents, of the original discs are encoded along with the playback menu.

On the other hand, with reference to FIG. 8, when the target disc is script-based, the script is established according to the disc information list and the playback sequence list in sub-step 141′ of the second preferred embodiment. In sub-step 143′ of the second preferred embodiment, the playback-sequence processing program is triggerable to jump to a playback sequence that corresponds to a selected sequence of a selected one of the original discs. Further, sub-step 144 of the first preferred embodiment is omitted in the second preferred embodiment. Moreover, in sub-step 145′ of the second preferred embodiment, the sequence contents of the original discs are encoded along with the script.

The computer-readable recording medium according to the present invention includes program instructions for causing a computing apparatus to execute consecutive steps of the machine-implemented method for establishing a playback interface for a target disc when storing contents of a plurality of original discs into the target disc. The machine-implemented method may be one of the first and second preferred embodiments.

In sum, the present invention provides a machine-implemented method for establishing a playback interface for a large-capacity target disc when it is demanded to store contents of a plurality of small-capacity discs into the large-capacity target disc.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what are considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements. 

1. A machine-implemented method for establishing a playback interface for a target BluRay digital versatile disc (DVD) when storing contents of a plurality of original DVD's into the target BluRay DVDc, the machine-implemented method comprising: analyzing the contents of each of the original DVD's for relevant disc information; and establishing a playback interface for the target BluRay DVD based on the analysis, the playback interface providing an interactive user interface for allowing a user to selectively playback contents of the target BluRay DVD stored from the plurality of original DVD's, wherein establishing the playback interface includes: establishing a script according to the relevant disc information, and adding a disc-information processing program into the script, the disc-information processing program being triggerable to jump to a playback sequence frontpage that corresponds to a selected one of the original DVD's.
 2. The machine-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein establishing the playback interface further includes adding a playback-sequence processing program into the script, the playback-sequence processing program being triggerable to jump to a playback sequence that corresponds to a selected sequence of a selected one of the original DVD's.
 3. The machine-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising, prior to establishing the playback interface, analyzing each chapter of each sequence of each of the original DVD's for relevant chapter information, and recording the chapter information of the original DVD's in a chapter information list; wherein the playback interface for the target BluRay DVD is established according to the relevant disc information and the chapter information list.
 4. The machine-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein establishing the playback interface further includes setting an activation command for a first option of a first layer submenu to correspond to a respective second layer submenu.
 5. The machine-implemented method according to claim 4, wherein establishing the playback interface further includes setting an activation command for a second option of the second layer submenu to correspond to a respective third layer submenu.
 6. The machine-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein establishing the playback interface further includes setting an activation command to correspond to a respective chapter of a respective sequence of a respective one of the original DVD's.
 7. The machine-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein establishing the playback interface further includes adding a chapter processing program into the script, the chapter processing program being triggerable to jump to a selected chapter of a selected sequence of a selected one of the original DVD's.
 8. The machine-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the original DVD's are all standard-definition DVD's.
 9. The machine-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising determining whether the contents of the original DVD's exceed the capacity of the target BluRay DVD.
 10. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium comprising program instructions for causing a computing apparatus to execute consecutive steps of a machine-implemented method for establishing a playback interface for a target BluRay DVD when storing contents of a plurality of original DVD's into the target BluRay DVD, the machine-implemented method comprising: analyzing the contents of each of the original DVD's for relevant disc information; and establishing a playback interface for the target BluRay DVD based on the analysis, the playback interface providing an interactive user interface for allowing a user to selectively playback contents of the target BluRay DVD stored from the plurality of original DVD's, wherein establishing the playback interface includes: establishing a script according to the relevant disc information, and adding a disc-information processing program into the script, the disc-information processing program being triggerable to jump to a playback sequence frontpage that corresponds to a selected one of the original DVD's.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 10, wherein the method further comprises establishing the playback interface further includes adding a playback-sequence processing program into the script, the playback-sequence processing program being triggerable to jump to a playback sequence that corresponds to a selected sequence of a selected one of the original DVD's.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 10, wherein the method further comprises, prior to establishing the playback interface, analyzing each chapter of each sequence of each of the original DVD's for relevant chapter information, and recording the chapter information of the original DVD's in a chapter information list; wherein the playback interface for the target BluRay DVD is established according to the relevant disc information and the chapter information list.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 10, wherein establishing the playback interface further includes setting an activation command for a first option of a first layer submenu to correspond to a respective second layer submenu.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 13, wherein establishing the playback interface further includes setting an activation command for a second option of the second layer submenu to correspond to a respective third layer submenu.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 10, wherein establishing the playback interface further includes setting an activation command to correspond to a respective chapter of a respective sequence of a respective one of the original DVD's.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 10, wherein establishing the playback interface further includes adding a chapter processing program into the script, the chapter processing program being triggerable to jump to a selected chapter of a selected sequence of a selected one of the original DVD's.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 10, wherein the original DVD's are all standard-definition DVD's.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 10, wherein the method further comprises determining whether the contents of the original DVD's exceed the capacity of the target BluRay DVD. 